Legends of the Past III: Life vs. Death
Life vs. Death is the third chapter of the overarching storyline of Legends of the Past, which takes place in the Jinok Alternate Universe. It was originally written in 2010 and has since been translated to English. Prolog There are several special units in the Order of Mata Nui. They have been very well trained. Today, almost all special units have been sent to the island in the sky, which is also called "Alpha 7". Only four were dropped on the nearby island of Ksass Nui. And there they sat, three Toa and a Matoran, and grumbled. "Why of all people did they have to sit around and keep watch on the little Matoran?" thought Yuna, one of the Toa. "It's really unfair of Helryx that we of all people have to bugger about on this island." said Synok, a Toa of Fire. "There's really nothing to do here." Nidhiki said. But speaking of the Makuta, just as he said that, a house exploded in the street they were in. "What was that?!" yelled Yuna. None of the other three gave an answer as they had already started running. She ran after them. Arriving at the burning house, Nidhiki shouted to her: "Extinguish the house, the fire is slowly spreading to the other buildings!" She did as ordered and let her elemental power operate. After a few seconds, the house was extinguished. But it was too late for the inhabitants, they had been burned. "Who was that?" Nidhiki asked. And again they were surprised when Nidhiki was suddenly hit by a Rhotuka spinner, which wrapped him in an energy net and threw him to the ground. The other special forces turned around to see two dark huntresses, Lariska and Roodaka. Roodaka grinned broadly, aiming at Synok with her spinner-launcher. "Look at the big green Matoran!" she called at them. Nidhiki crooked, and seemed to be transforming: His body was getting longer, his arms formed into shears and his legs formed into four. His head was also like a Vahki. Sadly he looked upon his ugly appearance. "And now it's your turn!" Roodaka shouted, firing a spinner at Synok... The Battle of Death Half the building on the island had been turned to rubble and ashes. Again and again, white and black flashes of light shot from the ruins, which tore down another wall. The Order of Mata Nui was only partly responsible for the destruction, most of it was done by Tilira and Nuva. It was pure chaos. Brutaka, Mirinia and Yazoo had retreated further. Over the noise of the fight Brutaka shouted: "What are we going to do now?! This can't go on forever!" No one could answer anymore, because a loud explosion of a rock above them buried them half under the falling debris. They broke free, and then 20 forgotten warriors came around the corner and fired their blasters and pistols at the team. Brutaka burned the first down, but more and more came until they were eventually pushed back into the corner. Mirinia stuck her solar rod into the earth and charged a lot of solar energy. "Give me cover!" She shouted over the noise to the others. Yazoo and Brutaka obeyed. After a few fallen dead, the solar rod suddenly trembled, turning yellow from the charge. Yazoo noticed this and threw Brutaka to the ground and shortly thereafter a wave of energy came over them, which burned the dead warriors and tore them to pieces. But that was not all: The whole island and many neighboring islands were dazzled by the bright light, and those who looked directly into it lost their eyesight, The light blinded Nuva and Tilira, and they covered their eyes. When it was over, Tilira opened her eyes and noticed that Nuva was no longer standing in front of her. In front of her gaped a huge hole. She unfolded her wings and began to fly down into the hole. Down below, deep down, everything seemed to be extinguished. Simple dead silence. That suited Nuva. She walked on carefully, and suddenly a voice came from the walls all around her: "Sister. You could join me. We belong to a family. Together we have more power!" "No!" shouted Tilira. Nuva's voice answered: "Silve will be disappointed in you. Suddenly, Nuva appeared in front of her and his blade pierced her stomach. She screamed, and the screaming turned into a whimper and she fell to the ground. Nuva grinned wickedly and pulled his death claw out of her. "That's it, then." he said and jumped back up, where he was already expected by members of the Order. He just smiled and battered pure death energy onto them. They were dead immediately. Synok barely dodged the spinner while Yuna fired from her pistols at Roodaka and Lariska. Then, suddenly, they were overturned by a wave of energy coming from Roodaka's catcher claws. Lariska ran away and Roodaka called out to them: "Go fight against someone on your level!" Synok, Yuna and Tarnis, the little Matoran, wondered what that meant. They looked around, but apart from Nidhiki, who was still lying on the ground, they saw no one else. But suddenly a blue warrior appeared and now they knew who she meant: Krekka. Chaos on two Fronts Synok dodged a disc and Yuna fired from her pistols at the dark hunter. During the battle nobody noticed that Tarnis had secretly snuck away. His destination was the headquarters of the Toa Virkon. The Toa sat quietly at a table in their garden and ate cake. When the little Matoran suddenly appeared, the Toa wondered and stood up. "What is it, little one?" Lesovan asked. "Dark Hunters! Here on the island! They're attacking Po-Ksass!" The Toa asked no further and ran off. When they finally arrived at the village of the Po-Matoran it was almost completely burning. Dark Hunters stood everywhere and Order members fought against them. Tarnis could not see Yuna, Synok and Nidhiki anywhere, so he ran to find them. A Dark Hunter thwarted his way, but the little Matoran used his elemental powers to make the earth under him collapse. Now he kept running to find his friends as the Toa Virkon plunged into battle. Nuva was finally able to enter the battle personally. Here and there came a few warriors, which he immediately killed with his death claw. Nothing could stand in his path. He only wondered where this sunlight was coming from, for he knew nothing of a Toa of the Sun. Now he strode out of the building, where he was immediately shot at with Cordak-arrows. Brutaka and his team had split in order to better look for Nuva. At the edge stood a few members of the Order, including his friends Brolak and Axoma, who were driven to the abyss by Forgotten Warriors. Brutaka fired lightning at the living dead, finally reaching his friends. Nuva saw a gold-and-blue-armored warrior join a group of warriors, killing some of his warriors. He did not like that at all, and he conjured up the power of magnetism, so that the warriors on the edge could no longer move away from the ground. Now, with all his strength, he flung an energy wave towards the ledge on which they stood. It crashed loud and the piece of rock broke off. Nuva released the magnetic force and grinned evilly. But one warrior was able to hold onto the edge. Nuva deprived him of his life and the warrior also fell to the water. Nuva made another mental call to his warriors and told them to get the cannons ready. Because new transporters with members of the Order were coming. Nuva also noticed that the Dark Hunters had done their job: A city on the nearby island was burning. Delighted with his triumph, he returned to his stronghold, but he was already expected... Tilira gasped under the pain. Her armor was badly damaged. But she had a vision, and now she knew what to do: she would have to go to the middle of the island. If she took a strange Kanohi out of a small shrine, the island woudl cease to stay in the air. She laboriously crept along the tunnel she was in. The Hollow Mountain Other battles were now breaking out on Ksass Nui. A small Ga-Matoran ran across the jetty which looked similar to Metru Nui, wanting to visit her friend. But suddenly a huge fish shot out of the water and stood on its fins. At its tail it had a spinner launcher attached, so he blew up the building where the little Matoran wanted to go. Now the little one quickly took flight. But the fish followed her at a tearing pace through the water. The Ga-Matoran screamed loudly as a tentacle came out of the creature and pulled her into the water. There she could not breathe, and kicked wildly. That would have been her end, had a stream of fire not shot into the water and burnt the tentacle. A hand grabbed the unconscious Matoran and pulled her ashore. The golden-red Toa looked at her calmly through his Hau. "The Toa Mangai are here, Dephiza!" said Toa Lhikan. Nuva faced a yellow Toa. He still reached for his weapon as he was overturned by a heat wave from the Toa. The Toa grabbed him by the collar, took his weapons and melted them with concentrated solar power. "You killed Brutaka!" she yelled at him. Nuva did not quite understand. But it would not have mattered what he said, because he was already thrown against the wall by Mirinia, and a cage of solar energy appeared around him. He touched the wall of energy with his finger, and his finger burned instantly. "I know you can't stand against the heat!" exclaimed Mirinia. "You're going to die!" she shouted and jumped towards him, but one of his warriors jumped between him and the solar staff Mirinia was flinging at him. Yazoo headed for a mountain with a group of members of the Order. "We can entrench ourselves over there!" he shouted. They finally arrived at a cave and one of the warriors immediately entered. There was a crash, and one could hear the screams of the fighter, who somehow went further away. Now Yazoo and three other warriors ran to the cave. The mountain was massive from the outside, but completely hollow from the inside. And there was a hole in the ground, from where one could see the sea. Only a thin layer of stone was between the sky and the island. Suddenly they heard screams and turned around. The fifteen remaining warriors layed dead and partly torn to shreds on the ground. Forgotten Warriors approached, and Yazoo and his three companions no longer knew what to do... Epilog Tilira was in the chamber where a really strange mask was on in a stone. Half dead she crawled towards it and pulled on it. But nothing happened. The mask was firmly attached to the stone! A light suddenly went off of her and it illuminated the entire room. Tilira was in a circular cave, in the middle was a pool of water, or something like water. Tilira began to be despaired. How was she supposed to get that mask out of the stone. With her last strength, she raised her staff and broke the mask in half. It started to quake. The island slowly began to sink and tilt. Tilira again went unconscious and rolled alongside her weapons into the pool... Characters Order of Mata Nui *Toa Yuna *Toa Synok *Toa Nidhiki *Brutaka *Toa Mirinia *Tarnis *Brolak *Axoma Dark Hunters *Roodaka *Lariska *Krekka Others *Toa Yazoo *Toa Tilira *Nuva *Toa Lhikan *Dephiza *Several Forgotten Warriors *The Toa Virkon